Visions of Another's Smile
by Gigabomb
Summary: Gai, Naruto. Sometimes Naruto wishes he could be the weak one for once.


Author's Note: Done on request from nemi chan.

By nature, Naruto was the cheerful one, the optimistic one, the guy who wouldn't know 'giving up' if it slammed into the side of his head, but there was someone else in his body with him, someone who wasn't cheerful and optimistic. Of course, the Kyuubi wouldn't know 'giving up' if it slammed into the side of his head either, but his was a single-mindedness borne out of arrogance and knowledge of his own power, not out of sheer stubbornness, and Naruto found no comfort in it.

Despite his seeming ignorance of the odds, be they of survival or success, Naruto was more aware than most of his humanity, his mortality. Eventually, enhanced healing or no, Naruto was going to die and the Kyuubi would live, and the demon took every chance he could get to remind his host of that. Naruto knew that eventually, there was going to be an end. Naruto knew that whatever he wanted, he couldn't protect everyone, the whispers in the back of his mind supplying uncertainty where nothing but confidence had grown before.

Sometimes, though not often, there was something that Naruto wanted more than to become Hokage, to become someone so great and important and wonderful that everyone will acknowledge him. Now was such a moment, as he stood on the eve of a great battle where everyone was unsure of survival, much less of victory. Chances were Sasuke had already been possessed and his soul lost. Chances were more than one of his friends was going to die tomorrow, most likely more than one. Chances were Naruto was not going survive to see his next birthday, because if Orochimaru didn't get him, the Akatsuki would. The odds were not in Naruto's favor, as they had never been, but Naruto before had always been able to convince himself otherwise. Which was why, just then, Naruto wanted someone else to say everything would be alright. Someone other than himself, because just then, he couldn't force himself to believe it.

It was by default that Naruto was the cheerful one, the optimistic one, the one who never, ever thought that this was the end. No one else. Never anyone else. Just him. It had always been him. Sasuke wasn't here, was for all practical purposes dead, and even if he had been around, and alive, and still Naruto's friend, he had always been more likely to say something macabre instead of uplifting. Kakashi-sensei had seen too many tragic endings to what should have been fairy tales to be comforting in any but the most depressing way. "It will be quick," was Kakashi's tagline, had been since the war started, and Naruto was sick of hearing it. Neither Sakura nor Iruka-sensei could ever force enough conviction from themselves to make the doubt fade from their eyes, and the ero-sennin had been skewered on Orochimaru's sword three months ago and left to bleed to death on the ground. The agony still burn Naruto down to the bone, soul-deep, when he thought about it. So he didn't, and just let himself fade away when the memory of thin books garish in orange and public baths made its way into his consciousness. There was no optimism anymore. No cheerfulness. No happiness. No bright smiles not impinged by the memory of loss. Nothing. Everything was so empty, occasionally Naruto forgot what he was fighting for to begin with.

"Naruto-kun."

Naruto forced himself out of his stupor and glanced to the side towards the person who had approached and addressed him. The jounin, dressed as always in a bright green jumpsuit and legwarmers, was smiling at him. It took a few seconds for Naruto to realize the man was waiting for a response. "Yeah, what is it, Gai-sensei?"

The older shinobi thumped a hand companionably on Naruto's shoulder, making the shorter man stumble slightly as the force of the blow. "Great news from the front, Naruto-kun. Shino-kun's patrol has returned. They found a gap in Orochimaru's defenses."

Naruto tried to summon up the necessary enthusiasm, but it just wouldn't come. Gap or not, Orochimaru's forces outnumber the Leaf three to one, and with the Akatsuki approaching from the east… well. Still, he made the effort. "Yeah. Great."

Gai frowned deeply at Naruto's apathetic reply. Then, quite unexpectedly, he pulled Naruto roughly into what could only be termed as a manly hug. Before Naruto had time to react properly, Gai had pulled back, but still had one hand on each of Naruto's shoulders. This time, the green-clad jounin's grin didn't gleam; it shined with the glow of a thousand suns. "Don't worry, Naruto-kun. Our forces burn with the strength of youth, and not a one of them is not fighting to defend their homeland. We will be victorious, because we _must _win, and need is paramount over something so trivial as want. Everything will be alright."

Everything will be alright. Everything… will be alright. Naruto stared into the older shinobi's eyes, trying to discern weakness, a crack in that unshakable confidence. There wasn't one. Gai, who had fought in battles to the death years before Naruto had been born, who had seen missions fail and comrades die, who had lost and suffered as much as any other shinobi… Gai said everything would be alright. And he believed it, with every fiber of his being. Unexpectedly, Naruto found himself believing, too.

Gai's smile was soon matched by one equally as bright, his hug, if anything, surpassed. "You're right, Gai-sensei. Of course everything will be alright. How could it not be? Konoha has Uzumaki Naruto, number-one ninja on its side, after all!"

And perhaps there was hope, after all. This battle could not be won through skill, for many of Konoha's best and brightest had died in the initial attack. Nor through numbers, as Otogakure had many allies and the Leaf none, at least not after Sunagakure's fall a year ago. There was really only one thing left, and if the rest of Konoha didn't have it, well then. Naruto and Gai would just have to force it down there throats, whether they liked it or not. A distant thought occurred to Naruto as he and Gai went to make a cauldron-sized batch of Sunny Tea (recipe invented by Gai while half-drunk, though still amazingly effective). Maybe, if he wanted to… Lee could help.


End file.
